Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides.
Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on
the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will need to join the MOA before you can post: click this register link to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

Weather stakes?

Being I love my tent camping off the back of my bike so much, just wondering what tent stakes ya'l use for tornado's in the midwest? I have a really good weather tent, stainless stakes too and like to think I can stay put if the wind blows really hard back there . I fun some with my question, as some folks have had really bad experiences back there, living with this threat every Spring/Summer(Joplin,eg.), no hurt intended. We have had a few rallies where this was indeed a factor, as in Spokane, Gillette, Ohio and so on. Tents seem to get thrown about when the wind blows! Does Sedalia have a shelter/bunker at the rally grounds??? A wonderful area, I rode just last year in my crossing USA. Its a target,however every year for the nastiest of storms, the whole of middle USA. I still ride it every year, wouldn't miss it with too many great memories of great riding that area. Randy

I've got some longer stainless stakes, used to be made by a fellow member. I remember Lima, West Bend, Gillette, and even Charleston. In West Bend, during rally set-up. had a heavy-duty storm roll in. I had just finished setting up my tent and Kelty Sunshade when we were told of the storm and to get our bikes into the buildings. From where I was sheltered I could see my camp during the storm. I watched as the tent and sunshade would "kneel" and spring back with every gust. Later saw some E-Z-Ups that didn't fare too well.

Randy,
I have been using "gorilla" stakes for many years and was sorry to hear our mutual friend stopped making them.
A vendor at the Pecatonica swap meet is making them now (with our friend"s ok).
He may be at Sedalia as well.
I always pick up some as you never know when they may be needed either by myself or a friend at a rally!
See ya in Sedalia!

At the Rhinebeck National, I was relaxing by my tent, with a gentle wind blowing. From about 200ft away, I could see a free standing, dome type tent,on it's side, very slowly rolling my way. I continued drinking my cold breverage as it reached my camp site and continued on by. I watched it until it came to a stop about 200ft further along. It was about a 15-20 minute spectacle that had me laughing for the remainder of the rally. I countinued with my breverage until a gentleman walked passed with a puzzled look and asked me if I had seen someone walk by with a tent. 'No', says I, 'but I did see one roll by a few minutes ago, it's over there,' pointing to it's location. He gave a sour look as if to say, 'You could have stopped it!' I could have, even should have, but this makes a much better story.
You should ask him what type of stakes he was using!

At the Rhinebeck National, I was relaxing by my tent, with a gentle wind blowing. From about 200ft away, I could see a free standing, dome type tent,on it's side, very slowly rolling my way. I continued drinking my cold breverage as it reached my camp site and continued on by. I watched it until it came to a stop about 200ft further along. It was about a 15-20 minute spectacle that had me laughing for the remainder of the rally. I countinued with my breverage until a gentleman walked passed with a puzzled look and asked me if I had seen someone walk by with a tent. 'No', says I, 'but I did see one roll by a few minutes ago, it's over there,' pointing to it's location. He gave a sour look as if to say, 'You could have stopped it!' I could have, even should have, but this makes a much better story.
You should ask him what type of stakes he was using!

Why wouldn't you help with or without the individual being there when you saw the problem instead of making it your own personal source of humor?

We are all in the same club. Lend a hand. Help someone or there equipment in need. Your post baffles me.

Jack

"All my life I wanted to be somebody. Now I realize I should have been more specific."

You had to be there Jack.
It was like seeing someone slip and fall in the mud. You don't want to laugh, but a guffaw slips out anyways. You feel remorse at first until you realize no one was hurt. No one and nothing was hurt in this situation.
You are probably correct in saying that I should have helped, but sometimes a given quantity of my favourite breverage affects my judgement. Wether or not you appreciate the story, more than 10yrs later, I still chuckle at the incident. Buddy with his tent learned a lesson and has certainly moved on.
The slow motion aspect of it was like performance art.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

Last edited by angysdad; 03-19-2012 at 08:07 AM.
Reason: added word for clarity

Thanks Ken...4 is my lucky number. Now if you had wished 3 or 5 craping camels on me, I would certainly have been offended.

I actually had a raccoon crap in my tent when I was a teenagers. I learned not to leave food in my tent. Much better a raccoon than a bear. Much like it's better to learn the importance of properly staking down your tent during a light breeze rather than during strong winds. Experience comes from making mistakes.

TOOOOOO funny,LOL

I'm laughing helplessly at the Camel's doooing in his tent! Never heard that one all my life, but like it for laughs. What folks wish on folks. In Spokane at the National Rally, one tent got airborn to WAY up about 200', as we watched in amazement. Gillette actually had a town warning siren to watch for tornado's, a bad blow there and my tent went flat and the stakes held. Its quite a picture, all the tents at national rallies and when the storms hit, a memory in the making watching all that happens. Thank God, not anybody ever comes away hurt I know of, but many are turned sour on camping! Randy

Camping exposed along salt water also provides experience with high winds. If money is more of a concern than weight, spike nails are my top choice. For a little more money and a lot less weight and bulk, the MSR Ground Hog stake or something similar works fine. You just have to have your stakes angled properly and the tent should be staked out taut.

i've found that in wind, it's not so much the length of the stakes (well, it helps, but that gets heavy) as it is the number of stakes and guy lines.

Also very important is the shape of the tent. I like mine to be aerodynamic!

My current tent is an Exped Andromeda II and I can stake it casually for most weather, using only the corners and ends. But when needed I can add in 3 lines on each side and one more each for the two ends. It stands up to some hellacious winds.

An old Burning Man trick (where 75-mph winds are a common occurrence) is to use 4شاض #4 rebar stakes. Cheap, readily available, and the tent will rip itself to shreds before the stakes ever move. Be sure to put something on the up side to keep drunk or unlucky rally goers from impaling various body parts. You can also candy cane the end with a couple of pieces of pipe.